No answer for Catalonia before the elections | …

From Barcelona

The political crisis around the conflict in Catalonia continues in a swamp. The president of the Generalitat, Quim Torra, has again called Pedro Sánchez, but he refused to follow him because he understands that the Catalan leader does not directly condemn the violence.

Interim Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, was responsible for reacting to the initiative of the Catalan leader. "That President Torra and his government condemn the violence, firmly and without nuances," said the Socialist leader, who is the visible face of the Spanish executive in handling the crisis that erupted last Monday with the conviction Independence leaders who organized the illegal referendum of October 2017.

During the past week, Barcelona was the scene of peaceful daily demonstrations, but also of events in the evening which, with the exception of the day before, ended with violent riots and clashes with the police. Areas in the city center, such as Plaza Catalunya or Laietana Vía, record several damages, broken windows, destroyed furniture, paintings and streets covered with burnt bitumen.

Last Saturday, the riots did not take place because a cordon of Catalan pacifists separated the police barrier from the crowd.

Political forces have condemned violence with various nuances. While the Torra government issued ambiguous messages, the right-wing forces did not hesitate to ask for the intervention of the Catalan executive.

Citizens are one of the most supportive parties to this resource. Its president, Albert Rivera, ratified it this Sunday during a march he organized in Plaza Sant Jaume, in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter.

"If we have an article of the Constitution that allows us to bring out a man who cuts roads, who calls for violence, who goes (cut roads) in an official car and who uses the institutions, who expect they throw Torra and go together to defend the Constitution? "Said the head of the citizens in front of a little more than 1500 people. A public of the middle and higher classes with Spanish or Spanish and Catalan flags.

The socialist government believes that, for the moment, there is no reason to intervene in Cataloniabut he does not exclude it either. The proximity of the general elections – November 10 – puts the leaders between the real politics and electoral politics. For example, as the newspaper pointed out L & # 39; vanguard This Sunday, Sánchez would not want to intervene in the Catalan government and should take care of managing more peaceful or, worse, violent demonstrations. That would affect it in the face of elections.

In the middle are the citizens, those who want to become independent and those who are not. Although those attending the rally of Albert Rivera were well under half a million separatists on Friday, or that between 5,000 and 10,000 people, who participated in the evening march in Barcelona, they still represent a sector of Catalan society that rejects independence.

Gonzalo Arana, an insurance agent who assisted in the summoning of Rivera, is not a voter of his, but he was present because there are "few opportunities to meet and demonstrate" in favor of unity. from Spain. "The education is terrible in Catalonia … I do not blame the children who threw stones these days, they hear lies for years:" Spain is stealing, l '. Spain is trampling us, the Catalans are the ones who pay the most in the country, "says Arana, who lives in Catalonia 25 years ago, but was born in the Basque Country, the region that declared the greatest sovereign pulse in the country. 39 Spanish state in recent decades.

Arana attributes to Quim Torra the "crisis of coexistence" in Catalonia and coincides in this sense with the thesis of the socialist government that poses a problem among Catalans, motivated by independence. However, Before convening the first elections of the year, in April, the Socialist President, Pedro Sánchez, was in favor of opening a dialogue with Catalonia.and consider the possibility of strengthening the powers of the Catalan Government.

This option is not shared by the Rivera protesters. Javier Cámara, a senior student, believes that the current crisis is precisely due to excess of skills. "They have too many. The Generalitat administers education, and some books are a shame, they say that Spain is an oppressive country, "says Cámara, who represents a minority among the participants, mostly middle-aged people and old.

Catalan education is a concern of the supporters of the union of Spain. They fear that the language in which classes are taught is Catalan. Despite this, some support the search for a political consensus between those in favor of independence and those who oppose it, although a referendum was not agreed because it would open the door for other secessions of the country.

"I have met many independent people with whom you can talk. Albert Rivera also, he knows independent personalities with whom to talk, not like Torra, who must leave, "explains Eva María Pérez, who came from the Valencian community to attend the citizens meeting.

Pérez's dialogue proposal was not preferred nor Rivera's other right-wing forces. The People's Party and citizens generally do not hesitate to intervene in the community when the crisis of sovereignty deepens. The Torra government did not deal with this dialogue either. His initiative is still based on a referendum of self-determination, a proposal that does not contemplate the Spanish Constitution.

The swamp of the Catalan crisis is dense and deep, and creative initiatives and a strong political will are needed to begin to solve it. Resources that the Spanish parties have not offered in recent years, and that they do not offer either in this one, marked by the political blockade and two general elections in a little more than six months.